Assessing for Workplace Wellness

The World Health Organization states that occupational health should address all aspects of health and safely in the workplace with a strong focus on prevention of hazards, including stress-related disorders.

Throughout the world, there has been increasing concern regarding the wellness of employees.  Unfortunately, this concern has received more attention in recent years only due to the economic burden associated with the obesity epidemic and numerous chronic diseases that have been linked to obesity, including hypertension, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

Workplace Wellness refers to the organizational policies and workplace activities focused on health promotion. Examples might include providing health coaching or weight management programs, wellness newsletters, allowing flex time for exercising, offering healthy food options in vending machines or workplace cafeterias, or offering financial incentives to participate in health-related activities.

While many larger organizations, such as universities, may offer workplace wellness programs, smaller organizations and businesses, such as mental health agencies, may not offer a wellness program or include wellness in their organizational policies.  Counselors may, in many cases, be responsible for creating their own wellness plans to manage work-related stress or other health concerns.  Unfortunately, many counselors may not realize that the pressure from their workload has become excessive and unmanageable until they experience health problems or exhibit problems in their work performance.

The American Counseling Association's Task Force on Counselor Wellness and Impairment has created a resource page on their website to address the needs of impaired counselors.  For counselors who may be experiencing workplace stress or who would like to monitor their level of stress there are two assessment tools, Self-Care Assessment and Stress Reactions Inventory,  that can be utilized by counselors on a regular basis.  The Professional Quality of Life assessment (and manual) measures compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization, and the potential for burnout in counselors.

Choose Wellness!